CONSEQUENCES

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy and Morgan.

CHAPTER 12-OUT OF THE FRYING PAN AND…

He sulked through the streets of London, keeping the hat pulled down low over his horns. Uncharacteristically he had descended into one seedy club after another, hoping to lose himself in the writhing flesh of the masses. However like his earlier attempts it ended in a miserable failure. Cursing himself for his odd inability to get drunk he wandered from bar to bar until the sun came up and he began to look for a place to rest his hat for the night, or day as it now was. He hadn't gone far when he looked up and saw himself in front of a hotel. Thinking that this was as good of a place as any he shrugged his shoulders and went inside to the front desk to get a room, not noticing the red headed witch and ex watcher sitting at a table on the other side of the lobby.

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"So what do we do now," Spike asked softly with a somber frown on his face as he took the box from Angel and did his best to not look at the two heads inside.

"How should I know…there isn't a manual for any of this Spike, please…if you've got any ideas I'm all ears," Angel answered snidely as he scowled back at Spike before his hand reached for the doorknob.

"Last I knew this was your operation…I'm just along for the ride," Spike replied with a slightly unsure look on his face before the two exited the closet and snuck back into Spike's room.

"Keep this here, I'm going to talk to Nina," Angel stammered out with a very nervous look on his face as Spike hesitantly set the box down on the desk in his room.

"What are you going to say," Spike asked, his voice totally devoid of any of its usual sarcasm or mockery, as he turned away from the box and back to Angel.

"What I have to…," Angel softly replied with a saddened and fearful look in his eyes before he hung his head and left the room.

"Better you than me," Spike grumbled sadly with a somber pout on his face before he plopped down onto the end of his bed and flipped on the television, hoping to find something that at least momentarily would take his mind off of the contents of the box and what Angel now had to do.

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Katy awoke to find herself tied up and in the back of a van, being thrown back and forth against the sides at every corner. She couldn't see much, as someone had tied a rag tightly around her eyes. She struggled against her bindings and gritted her teeth against the pain that she felt as the rope dug into her wrists. She squirmed around a bit until she bumped into another bound body in the back of the van. Guessing and hoping that it was Illyria Katy did her best to try and move the rag around her eyes down just far enough so that she could see something. She struggled enough until the top of the rag slid down her nose just enough so that her eyes were uncovered. She glanced through the back window of the van and even though it was in desperate need of being washed Katy was just able to make out the rear end of an airplane.

"Okay ladies…we're here," A gruff voice joked as the van came to a stop, prompting Katy to lower her head and do her best to appear like she was still out.

"Next stop London," Another voice, this one female, added happily before Katy felt a needle being jammed into her shoulder and seconds later the world went black.

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"Well that's something that you don't see everyday," Kennedy announced with a very surprised look on her face as she walked into the lobby beside the table at which Willow and Giles were sitting and stared at the front desk.

"What…Lorne," Willow started to ask with a bored look on her face before her gaze fell upon the barely recognizable form of the empathy demon that she had met when she had gone to Los Angeles to give Angel back his soul. If it were possible Lorne's complexion ran through the entire gambit of colors associated with green as he frantically searched for an exit that wouldn't make him look suspicious. He had finally found one when he bolted for the door, only to almost fall flat onto his face in an attempt to stop as a gaggle of new slayers opened the hotels front doors.

"Uh heh…don't mind me folks, I'll just be going now," Lorne stated with a cheesy and scared smile on his face before he started to try and hurry in between the various slayers and slip back out onto the street. However he was stopped in his tracks when Kennedy leapt forward and grabbed the collar of his jacket and pulled him back into the lobby towards Willow and Giles.

"Who is he," Giles asked with a curious and cautious tone to his voice as he stood up and instinctively reached for the hilt of the knife that he had hidden under his coat.

"He's a friend of Angel's, an empath demon from another dimension, in Los Angeles he used to own a nightclub, anyone or anything would sing a little karaoke and then he'd read their future, but…," Willow started to answer, her voice full of vigor, before she took in the appearance of the former nightclub owner. He was no longer slim, trim, and well manicured. His hair had grown out a little bit and his whiskers were beginning to show. But nothing could compare to the absolutely haunted look in his eyes.

"That was the old me sugarplum, the me before…," Lorne started to say with a chipper smile on his face before the memories came back and overwhelmed him. It took all of his determination to not break down in tears right then and there. In the end he covered his face with his hands and bowed his head.

"What happened to you Lorne, you look like hell," Willow asked, the concern and worry clearly evident in her voice, as she stepped forward and gently laid a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't want to talk about it," Lorne replied softly as he collapsed down into the chair that Willow had just vacated.

"We're beyond what you do and do not want to talk about, we need to know what happened in LA if we are going to be able to help…," Giles began to demand with an impatient scowl on his face before Lorne's fear was converted into disgust and anger at the man demanding so much of him.

"That's funny coming from you…wanting to help, finally decide to get down off of your high horse and stop lying to everyone around you," Lorne angrily shot back at Giles as he steeled his eyes and glared powerfully up at the old watcher for a moment or two. Finally when he couldn't sustain the glare any longer Lorne allowed a wickedly sarcastic smile to spread across his lips.

"We don't have time for riddles or such tomfoolery," Giles shouted back with an angry scowl on his face as he stepped forward and looked to be about ready to throttle Lorne when Willow stepped in.

"Easy Giles, he can't tell us anything if he's scared out of his wits," Willow interjected with a nervous look on her face as she stepped in between Giles and Lorne and knelt down in front of Lorne's chair.

"Is that safe," One of the new slayers whispered to another with a confused and slightly scared look on her face as she edged a bit back and away from the niche in the lobby.

"Got me," Another new slayer whispered back with a very nervous edge to her voice as she squeezed forward to get a better look.

"Hey now ladies…I…," Lorne started to say with a very nervous smile on his face as he stared up from his seat at the assembled new slayers before Willow cut in.

"Lorne…what happened to Angel and the others," Willow asked with a very serious and slightly scared look on her face as she did her best to not scare the demon sitting in front of her.

"I think that you already know, tried to pick a fight with the senior partners…and lost," Lorne replied softly, his voice hinting that at least on the surface he deemed the admission as something out of a dream, before his eyes filled up with tears and he had to look away.

"We know that Wesley, Fred, Cordelia, and Gunn are dead but we do not know what happened to the others," Giles answered with a grim and frustrated look on his face as he cautiously sat back down.

"Well sorry but I can only guess what happened to them, like I told Angel, after I fulfilled my part of the plan I got out of Los Angeles before all the fun began," Lorne said with a sad pout on his face as he leaned back in his seat and stared down at his hands.

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Angel checked the clocks on the wall as he walked down the hallway, wishing somehow that he could rewind time itself and keep Nina's sister and niece from meeting the same fate as they had. Nina had taken the news better than he had expected, well if curling up into the fetal position and mumbling softly to herself in completely incoherent phrases was taking it well. He hadn't wanted to leave her but knew that if he and the rest of his team was to live through the weekend that he had to find them new accommodations. With Groo and Gwen out on patrol looking for Giles and Buffy Angel expected the hallways to be clear of anyone of any importance.

"What's wrong dad," Connor asked with a very concerned look on his face as he walked up to Angel and caught the look in his eyes.

"Everything," Angel answered without missing a beat as he continued on his way down the hallway towards Spike's room.

"That sounds encouraging," Connor commented with a withdrawn look of concern on his face as he followed after his father.

"About as encouraging as our chances of making it out of all of this in one piece," An unhappy look Spike stated as he walked around the corner and almost collided with Angel.

"Spike, what are you doing…where are the…," Angel started to angrily shout after quickly recovering from the near miss with Spike.

"Relax Peaches, I locked my room up nice and tight…so how'd she take the news," Spike answered briefly before he posed the question that was foremost in his thoughts at that moment.

"Pretty much like I thought she would, we need to move her soon, the sun will be setting in a few hours and I don't want to take any chances, not tonight…," Angel replied calmly with a very driven look of desperation on his face as he walked past Spike and continued on down to the lobby.

"There you are, we got trouble," Morgan shouted over to Angel with a very serious and even slightly scared look on her face as she turned away from the window.

"Lucky us," Angel joked with a sarcastic scowl on his face as he quickly passed through the lobby, wondering oddly why it was empty except for himself, Spike, Connor, Faith, and Morgan.

"Looks like our little game of hide and go seek is over…they found us, and they don't look like they want to play," Faith added with a tone of voice that sounded to Angel more like her usual tone rather than the one that he had heard her use hours earlier in her room.

"Who," Connor asked with a slightly confused look on his face as he raced into the room and looked like he was scanning the room for a weapon when Spike answered.

"Wolfram and Hart…guess their surprise for you was only the beginning," Spike answered with a very serious and impatient scowl on his face as he quickly slid up next to the hotels front door and opened it up just enough to peer out.

"What surprise," A very nervous looking Morgan asked as she curled up into the corner next to Spike and looked ready for anything but a fight.

"Trust me pet, you don't want to know," Spike reassured her with a calm and soothing tone to his voice as he slid a quick smile on his face before he shut the door and turned back to Angel.

"How many," Angel asked with an impatient and anxious expression on his face as he walked up to Spike.

"You're better off not knowing," Spike answered with only a slight smirk on his face as he bolted the door shut and propped a couple of chairs up in front of it to try and serve as a makeshift blockade.

"In other words Angel…we're fucked," Morgan chimed in with a scared smile on her face before she stumbled her way back and away from the door.

"Anyone know where Groo and Gwen are," Faith exclaimed with an unsure look on her face as she hurriedly shut the curtains to the lobby.

"They were supposed to be trailing Buffy and Giles, though right now that's the least of our worries," Angel replied quickly with a slightly shaky voice as he went to the windows and peeked in between the curtains. Sure enough from what he could see the entire street had been blocked off and filled with black vans that seemed to stream forth an endless supply of Wolfram and Hart guards.

"Maybe you should get Nina, in case we have to make a break for it," Connor advised with an equally serious scowl on his face as he glanced back up the stairs.

"She's in no condition to do much of anything right now, I can't ask her to fight," Angel said with a very somber and worried look on his face as he followed Connor's glance up the stairs with one of his own.

"No one's asking you to Peaches, it's just that this isn't Bastogne," Spike declared with a very intense look on his face as he grabbed Angel's shoulder and hauled him back to the center of the lobby.

"Someone better think of something quick because they don't look like they're going to wait much longer," Morgan shouted with a very scared look on her face before three canisters of tear gas came crashing through the window.

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"So what you're saying is that…," Dawn started to say with a nervous look on her face before Xander cut in.

"Is that we should really think hard about where we're going to eat tonight, because I've heard the horror stories about…," Xander interjected with a worried expression on his face as he stood up and walked across the small room before sitting down on the bed beside Dawn.

"All total rubbish Xander, there are plenty of fine places to eat in London, it's just that you probably wouldn't know that from watching American television," Giles replied coldly from the door before Buffy walked out of the bathroom, looking ready to patrol rather than go out and eat.

"Any news," Buffy asked with a happy smile on her face as she slid a stake into one of the pockets on the inside of her coat.

"You could say that, I think that you should come with me first though, something big has turned up," Giles answered with a very grim and almost sick look on his face as he nodded his head.

"Is it something about Angel," Buffy asked with a great deal of interest in her voice as she walked up to Giles and zipped up her coat.

"I'm afraid so Buffy, it seems that what Whistler told you was true, about Angel wanting to change Wolfram and Hart from the inside…or at least attempt to," Giles answered with a very solemn and regretful expression on his face as he jammed his hands into his pockets and gazed out of the window. Instantly all of the air seemed to have left the room, leaving behind an enormous black hole that sucked any and all bits of goodness and hope out of the room. Bringing a hand up to try and squelch her sudden bout of nausea Buffy sidestepped over to the bed and dropped onto it, holding her head in her hands and doing her best to keep from crying.

"Buffy," Xander exclaimed with a start as he immediately dropped the phone book and hurried to the other side of the bed with the intent of comforting Buffy. Dawn slid into place on the other side of Buffy and both tried to understand what had just happened.

"It seems that we were wrong about them the entire time…but unfortunately that's not our only problem," Giles continued with a very glum and depressed scowl on his face as he took a deep breath and walked over to the window.

"What…we forget to turn off the tv before we left Rome," Dawn joked softly with a scared look on her face as she turned her head to look up at Giles.

"If only…no Dawn it's not that at all, it seems that we are being followed, when Kennedy went out to get a newspaper she spotted two people watching her every step," Giles added with a very serious look on his face as he closed the blinds to the window and turned back into the room.

"What…who is it," Buffy asked, more at first as a statement than as a question as she shot up off of the bed and joined Giles at the window.

"I'm not sure…yet, but whoever they are they definitely know what they're doing, the only reason that Kennedy noticed them was because one of them stopped to help an old woman across the street and the other one made a huge fuss about it" Giles answered softly with an unhappy look on his face as he turned his gaze away from the concerned look on Buffy's face and through the window down to the street below.

"Do you think that they're a threat to us, or are they just here to watch us and report back to their master or overlord or whomever," Buffy wondered with a nervous look on her face as she pulled out the stake that she had stuffed into the inside pocket of her coat earlier.

"I'm not sure, from Kennedy's description they didn't strike me as followers, more like hired muscle, the only thing that we're certain of is that they aren't vampires as both stood in direct sunlight," Giles said with an unsure frown on his face as he shrugged his shoulders before he walked back to the door.

"So I guess that the whole going out for dinner tonight thing is off," Dawn asked with an unhappy pout on her face as her shoulders slumped and she turned to Buffy.

"I think that's a pretty safe bet Dawnie, we can't do things like casually going out to dinner when we know that we're being watched," Buffy started to say with a somber frown on her face before the entire area was shaken by what sounded like a bomb blast several blocks away.

END OF CHAPTER 12